Why Samsung Might Be Building a Digital ‘Smart Watch’

Samsung’s plan to develop a “smart watch” isn’t just another ploy to target rival Apple, which is also interested in the space. Rather, the move is indicative of a broader movement in consumer electronics toward wearable computing.

Industry observers have been expecting Samsung to launch a wrist-mounted smart device following reports that Apple is experimenting with designs for its own iOS-powered watch. Today a Samsung executive told Bloomberg that the company has “been preparing the watch product for so long.”

But these companies are hardly the first to sense an opportunity and experiment in wearable computing. Several companies like Sony and Nike have experimented over the years with smartphone wristwatches, but as the technology improves the idea is no longer considered gimmicky.

Last year, startup Pebble raised more than $10 million on Kickstarter for a smart watch that connects wirelessly to an iPhone or Android devices. The effort proved there is strong interest to dissolve technology into the background. No need to pull your phone out of your pocket, purse or jacket to check notifications — the digital information is right in front of you.

For example, the Pebble buzzes when your phone receives a notification, like an email or a text message. It’s less jarring to look down at your wrist and view the notification quickly, especially if you are already in a conversation with someone, than to take out your phone and look down at the device and potentially interrupt the flow of conversation.

Google is working on its own variation of wearable computing with Google Glass, a device worn like glasses that places a digital heads-up display in your field of vision.

As technology improves, it will more seamlessly work behind the scenes. We’ve already begun to see this happening in software — Mobile payment app, Square, for example can detect when you’re entering a store and let you pay automatically, while Dropbox carries your files with you no matter where you are. Now hardware is catching up.